Search for government waste with new phone app

Former Illinois gubernatorial candidate Adam Andrzejewski and his group, For the Good of Illinois, has created an app called “Open the Books”, which can be used to search 12 years of federal spending from their mobile phone. Quite the accomplishment. As Andrzejewski wrote in an editorial piece published in The Wall Street Journal: “If you...

Former Illinois gubernatorial candidate Adam Andrzejewski and his group, For the Good of Illinois, has created an app called “Open the Books”, which can be used to search 12 years of federal spending from their mobile phone. Quite the accomplishment.

As Andrzejewski wrote in an editorial piece published in The Wall Street Journal:

“If you download the app and put in your ZIP Code, what “essential” spending will you find in your town and state? With 12 years of contracts, farm subsidies, grants, loans, insurance and direct payments, it’s nearly certain you’ll find some local business, citizen or organization receiving a piece of the federal pie.”

As an example, he pointed out some wasteful spending he was able to find near his home in Hinsdale, Ill:

“In my upscale suburb of Hinsdale—where the average home sells for nearly $900,000 and the median household income is over $150,000 per year—a nonprofit called Community House received a million-dollar grant for children’s programming. In addition, taxpayers guaranteed a low-interest government loan for $1.5 million to the local Lamborghini dealership. That’s spreading the wealth to the wealthy.”

After downloading the app myself, I took it for a spin. I searched for places within 10 miles of Buffalo Grove, Ill.

The first thing I noticed was large defense contracts to Northrop Grumman Corp. The contracts maxed out at $282 million, and the company had 12 other contracts in excess of $100 million dollars. According to the Open the Books app, in 2012 alone the federal government had $769 million in contracts with Northrop Grumman. I had no idea that there was such a large defense contractor in my backyard.

I checked out the farm subsidies near my home and I found an interesting line item for Rocky Run Hunt Club in Bannockburn. The club received almost $100,000 in farm subsidies during the past four years. Why the federal government should be giving taxpayer money to a hunting club is beyond me.

While the Open the Books app might not give you all the answers when it comes to federal spending, it is a great place start asking the right questions.

I highly recommend downloading this app from For the Good of Illinois and checking out potential wasteful spending and government corruption in your area.